Rainbows go extra innings to top Irvine

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Frustration turned to elation twice for the Hawai'i baseball team in yesterday's 6-5 extra-inning win against UC Irvine.

William Quaglieri picked up his second win of the season, coming on in relief. The right-hander shut down UC Irvine, giving up just three walks while striking out seven. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The extra frames were necessary after a ninth-inning grand slam by Grady Symonds pulled the Rainbows from a 5-1 deficit against the Anteaters (11-10).

"It's a big win for us," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "The reality is when you're down 5-1 against a good club, the game should be over. But our guys refused to believe that."

William Quaglieri (2-2) had something to show for his 6á scoreless innings of relief of starter Chris George, who allowed five runs in 5¡ innings. Quaglieri, who allowed two hits and three walks with seven strikeouts, had the longest stint of any UH pitcher in the series.

With one out in the bottom of the 12th against Glenn Swanson (2-2), UCI's third reliever of the game, Nogawa lined a single to center and Kevin Gilbride walked.

Gregg Omori, who grounded into a force play at home in a no-out, bases-loaded situation in the 10th, popped out to second.

Swanson got ahead 0-2 on Montgomery, whom he retired on a changeup with one out with the bases loaded in the 10th on a dribbler back to the mound for a force at home, and came off-speed again. This time Montgomery grounded it up the middle for the game-winner.

"I figured he might come back with something similar and he did," Montgomery said.

But the table was set by Symonds. The Rainbows loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Jon Koller. UCI brought in freshman Jimmy Alstot, who inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam. Alstot's first pitch was a fastball and Symonds drilled it over the center field wall to tie the game at 5.

"I knew there was a chance he was going to start that first pitch fastball," Symonds said. "I didn't know it was going to go. I was kind of blowing at it, trying to help it out. I think if that fence were an inch taller, it would have hit the fence."

No one was happier than Quaglieri, who was the most effective pitcher for UH in the series.

"If my fastball wasn't working, I'd go with my slider," Quaglieri said. "Whatever didn't work well that inning, I went to something else."

Those were the points of elation for the Rainbows. Frustration came in the first inning. After falling behind 2-0 on a solo home run by Chris Miller and RBI double by Steve Guthrie, the Rainbows looked like they would respond accordingly in the bottom of the frame. After Scooter Martines' RBI single, Nogawa's first of four singles in the game loaded the bases with one out. But UCI starter Paul French struck out Gilbride and retired Omori on a fly to right.

Symonds' slam brought elation in the ninth.

But frustration returned when the Rainbows squandered a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 10th.

In the inning, Omori, struggling at .237 entering the game, and Montgomery, both came up with the bases loaded and no out and tried to pull the ball. Trapasso said they work on such situations by having their batters put the ball in play to "the big part of the field ... preferably try to hit it to center."

"It was a frustrating game and I lost my temper on that one because we tell our guys we go at things with the approach we work on at practice," Trapasso said. "If we use that approach we work on at practice and it's not successful, I'll go to war for you. I tell our guys that all the time. It's not that they're bad kids. It's just that they're having a hard time and basically I'm going to have to take the blame for that because we need to work on it more because it's not sinking in."

So when Montgomery did get the game-winning hit, it was back to elation.

"It was neat to see Tim Montgomery get redemption because of the at-bat before that," Trapasso said. "That's why it's a great game. You can work on something all the time and still not be able to implement it, so we have to keep working on it."

The Rainbows open Western Athletic Conference play against No. 4 Rice (12-3), the preseason conference favorite, in a three-game series here starting Friday.